Last weekend was a long weekend. I was planning to bring my parents to somewhere that we have never been, but due to some circumstances, we dropped the plan. Hence, I decided to bring them to a place which is not particularly far from our place, to do something that we love to do- C@li M@k@n in Malacca.
Malacca has become one of the world heritages a few years back. Due to its unique geographical advantage, traffic has become an extremely common thing, especially at the town area on most of the weekends. We didn’t bother much, as we know that’s the thing we can’t change. What we can do is to find a good reason to make the traffic jam worthwhile and hoping that it can compensate the agony that we will be suffering from the traffic jam.
This was not the first time I came to Malacca. To be honest, I have tasted almost all the typical local delicacy that’s not unusual to all tourists. This time round, I aimed for something special, something that we have never tried; or rather my parents have never tried before. Below is a brief review on what we have eaten and where we have been to over the short and precious 24 hours in Malacca.
First stop: Donald & Lily
This is one of my favorite places in Malacca, due to 3 main reasons- authenticity, taste and price. The food they serve here is proper, no nonsense nyonya food. I could vouch for the quality of the food. It may not be the best for some, but it won’t disappoint you in any possible way. 3 of us ordered cendol, nasi minyak ayam rendang and nyonya laksa.
Cendol used to be the best, but it’s just dropped to second at the end of this trip. Reason being, you will know later.
Nasi minyak ayam rendang was pretty good. I personally like the ayam rendang very much. The combination of rempah that they put into this dish made this ayam rendang taste superb, it was strong but not overwhelming. I believe this is why so many people ordered it. I could have 2 servings of it, if I have no intention for other food.
The nyonya laksa was great too. They have never been stingy when it comes to putting the coconut milk (santan) into the laksa. The thickness of the soup is like none we have seen before, other than here. Even when we finished everything inside, they soup was still not watery.
Overall, there food is very high quality and cheap, but I personally prefer the old shop which gave us more of nyonya and baba feel.
Second stop: Soon Hin Mee Goreng Tanjung
We were supposed to try out the char siew and roasted port at Chuen How Restaurant near Jalan Merak, but it was close till 9 may. We had no choice, but to head to other options that we have- Mee Goreng Tanjung.
I have long heard about this Mee Goreng Tanjung from my Malacca friend. I have even been to this place, but unfortunately, it was close. Now, it’s finally open for me to try out!
Here we are the famous Mee Goreng Tanjung.
It looks like a simple spicy fried noodle with some chicken meat, fish cakes and some raw cucumber and onion. When something served looks so ordinary, it’d also bring our expectation down a little, if I am honest. The lower the expectation, the greater the surprise it could bring you. This was what exactly happened with this Mee Goreng Tanjung. It didn’t taste spicy at first, but the kick came later. It’s indeed spicy, but the spiciness didn’t overkill the whole thing. The Mee was well cooked and at Rm 5 a plate, I really have no complaint.
3rd stop: Khaki Coffee Bar
After that, we went for a gourmet coffee- Khaki Coffee Bar, recommended by my Malacca friend. We ordered a cup of Cappuccino and a glass of fancy Shakerato.
I made a mistake by drinking the stronger Shakerato first, which is double shot espresso with some sugar bubble foam on top. It’s a glass of cold coffee with plenty of creativity on it.
Why I said mistake is because when I drank the lighter Cappuccino right after the strong Shakerato, it was tasteless. I’ve wasted my cup of Cappuccino.
Khaki Coffee Bar is a café that sells coffee for fun, because this is not where they gain their profit. They make roast their own coffee bean and sell those coffee beans to other café, that’s where they earn big.
Overall, it’s a pleasant place to be, a decent place for coffee lovers to taste different type of coffee. Do note that they will be changing coffee beans once a week; hence it depends on your luck to have a cup of coffee that suits your taste over here. My first experience wasn’t so lucky, as the bean that they used that week was the half-roasted, sour tasting ones.
4th stop: Lung Ann Refreshment
After checking in the Layang-Layang Homestay, we went straight to a coffee shop to have the famous pork satay for our tea break. This coffee shop is located just 5 minutes walk from our homestay. We ordered coffee, toast and some pork satay to fill our stomach.
The coffee and toast had nothing to shout about, just ordinary coffee and toast.
The pork satay, however, was my first time trying. I’d say it’s very different from those halal satays we have tasted since the day we were born. The pork satay has less rempah taste and taste sweeter as compare to those ordinary satays, be it the meat itself or the sauce (kua) that goes with the satay.
Overall, the first experience of the pork satay was good; the coffee shop’s lady boss could have less “charred” face and better attitude though.
Right after that, we headed to Jonker for a walk. We visited some special handcraft / specialized shops, such as the silver making shop and pottery shop.
We also tried out the famous durian puff and wanton mee when we walked along the Jonker Street.
5th stop: Pak Putra Tandoori and Naan
Time flew, the sun soon got dawned. We headed to Pak Putra for the best Tandoori and Naan in Malacca. I’ve been to this place before with my friends, but this was the first try for my parents.
Overall, the Naan was still very soft; the Tandoori was still very juicy. Thumbs up for maintaining the food quality!
We went to Jonker again for a walk after the dinner and my mum bumped into her old neighbor. What a coincidence! He recommended us to go for dim sum near Ole Sayang restaurant the next morning, as he’s quite satisfied with it after trying it.
6th stop: 中华楼点心
And here we are!
Since there’re only 3 of us, we could only order so much.
I wasn’t sure it’s us coming to early or the business here was simply not good. I couldn’t be bothered, because we’re here for food! I personally quite like all the dim sum that we ordered, except for the “wu kok”. The filling of the “wu kok” was too bland to my liking.
Hence, I can conclude that the dim sum they serve here was pretty good, if not the best. The portion was generous; the price is on the high side, similar to that of KL though. However, I would recommend this dim sum shop, if one has no place to go for a proper breakfast.
After this decent breakfast, we headed back to homestay to pack up our luggage, check out and head to the Best Cendol in Malacca.
7th stop: Aunty Koh Cendol
Aunty Koh Cendol is located near SK Bukit Berambai. She opens the stall only on weekends, around 11.30am till finish. Normally, all the cendol would vanish in 2 hours time, but judging from the queue, I was pretty sure that it’d be finished within 2 hours. This Aunty Koh solo the entire process, from putting the ingredients into the bowl, milling the ice, serving, and washing. Many people appreciated her effort and offered their helping hands by washing their own bowl after finishing the cendol. That’s touching!
How about the taste? I’d say it’s just seconded the cendol served in Donald & Lily, due to one very reason- the freshness of the santan. The fragrance of santan could be easily felt from every single sip we were taking; the gula Malacca was in great balance and not overwhelming. I love it!
On the way back to town for lunch, we stopped by Klebang Coconut Shake to satisfy the craving of my mum.
8th stop: Ole Sayang Nyonya Food
This was the last meal of this C@li M@k@n trip. We have been to here before and we believed this would be a proper full stop for this trip. Since, there were only 3 of us, we ordered the famous Ikan Asam Pedas, Ayam Rendang and Kangkung Belacan.
Overall, the food was as usual, pretty decent. We all adore food with spices, preferably with high spiciness rating. Hence, nyonya food would never fail us.